We’ve already covered many miles through the country sides
and cities, and this has really proved to be a truly beautiful country. The
weather is a small price to pay for the people that you interact with, and the
way everything operates so efficiently. It’s also great to be in such a modern
community that still lives in the 16th century – well, their houses, buildings
and country roads.
We landed on Thursday 15th March, got our hire car and
headed straight to T3 Racing in Kent to see the bike! There stood our brand new
Triumph Daytona 675 race bike, only pending stickers, just calling me to take
it out on track!
Friday, we set out on a mission to find a van, insurance and
finalise our flat in Colchester. So we made the hour drive to Colchester from
Kent, under the Thames in the Dartford Tunnel and into Essex. There we met up
with Bjorn Estment - fellow South African racer and future flat mate. We spent
the entire day searching for vans and just viewed our prospecting flat from the
outside.
We headed home to Kent empty handed in terms of flat and van
progress, but not in tourist treats – seeing the beautiful country sides and
lifestyle of the British was an eye-opener. A great sight is crossing over the
Thames via the incredible Dartford Suspension Bridge!
With more phoning and searching that evening, we realised
our ideal van would be harder to find than anticipated. After days more of
travelling from Colchester, west-bound to the slums of London with “Honest Joe”
nearly taking us for a ride, we eventually found THE van on eBay in Hastings –
The very south coast of the UK. We were the only bidders just hours before it
was due to close, and after speaking with the seller and arranging to pick the
van up on Sunday morning, we were sure we had it. Then, 8 seconds before
closing, a car dealer outbid us and we lost it as we were going to fetch it!
All was lost, we were desperate and thought we found our break and it was a
perfect fit for what we need. We slumped down, despondent and disappointed to
search again. Then the phone rang, and the seller decided we needed the van
more than a salesman who was just going to make a quick buck off it, and said
he cancelled with the bidder and would sell it to us! We were elated and
immediately rushed down to buy it.
We would like to thank Roy, the seller, for being so kind
and helpful to us in getting this essential part of our season together – we
greatly appreciate it!
We drove off with our bright red 2007 Ford Transit and spent
the whole of Monday trying to find insurance for it – I am sure it would have
been easier to start our own insurance company than it was to find someone to
insure us at a reasonable rate. With insurance quotes at nearly the same value
as the van, and over 2 hours on the phone and £20/R240 airtime later, we
finally got it insured at a respectable rate.
Next was the Flat, which we had settled on and were moving
into on Monday, or so we thought. The estate agents had different plans! We had
booked out of our BnB and planned to move in, when we were told we had to sign
some forms and then it was ours, BUT they had to do reference checks which take
3 days… So now we had nowhere to stay! Reluctantly, we are back in the
horrifically expensive BnBs until Thursday. So we are due to move in after our
first trackday at Brands Hatch.
With all of this out of our hair soon, we are looking
forward to getting on track with our new bike. We are going to be at Brands on
Wednesday for the official BSB (British Super Bike) testing, but will only be
riding on Thursday.
That’s our story so far – plenty more to come, and we will
keep you all updated!
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